Denise Gomes just tied a UFC record and became the strawweight nobody can skip
Denise Gomes knocked Yan Xiaonan out with an elbow eleven seconds before the end of the first round in Shanghai. It was her fifth straight UFC win, the longest active streak in the division, and it tied the record for most knockouts in UFC strawweight history.
- Fight Hub
- 31 August 2026
Key takeaways
- Denise Gomes stopped Yan Xiaonan at 4:49 of round one at UFC Shanghai, landing a lead elbow and finishing with follow-up strikes.
- It is her fifth consecutive UFC victory, the longest active winning streak at women's strawweight, and moves her to 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the UFC.
- The finish tied Jessica Andrade's record of four knockouts, the most in the history of the UFC strawweight division.
Denise Gomes won it with the one strike nobody expects
An elbow, from the lead side
The finish came with eleven seconds left in the round, which is the part that makes it a highlight rather than a result. Gomes landed a lead elbow that dropped Yan Xiaonan flat, followed with strikes, and the fight was over at 4:49.
The elbow is the least common knockout tool in the sport, because it requires the range to be exactly right and gives away position if it misses. Landing one clean, on a former title challenger, in her own country, is not a lucky night.
The opponent was the credential
Yan Xiaonan came in at 19-6, 9-5 in the UFC, a former strawweight title challenger, and the crowd in Shanghai was hers. Nothing about the matchup was arranged to flatter Gomes.
Beating that opponent that way is what turns a winning run into a case, and the numbers behind it are the actual story.
Two records, and one of them is a division record
Four knockouts, tied for the most ever
The finish was Gomes’s fourth knockout in the UFC strawweight division, which ties Jessica Andrade for the most in the history of the weight class. Andrade is a former champion and one of the hardest hitters the division has produced. Matching her on finishes, at 26, is the sort of statistic that stops being a curiosity and starts being an argument.
She is now 13-3 as a professional and 7-2 in the UFC.
Five in a row, and nobody else is close
The streak matters as much as the knockouts. Five consecutive UFC wins is the longest active run at women’s strawweight, which means every contender ranked around her has lost more recently than she has.
A UFC commentator called for her to get a title shot on the broadcast. That is not a booking, but it is the first time the argument has been made out loud on the promotion’s own air.
I'm putting my name up there. I think everyone's going to see I'm here to stay.
What stands between her and Mackenzie Dern
The champion, and the queue
Mackenzie Dern holds the strawweight title. Gomes has not been booked against her, and the UFC has said nothing about who is next.
What Gomes has is the cleanest available case: the longest active streak, a record-tying finishing rate, and a win over a former title challenger in the co-main event of a card the promotion cared about. What she does not have is a date, and it would be dishonest to pretend the two are the same thing.
She said it herself, without waiting
Her own read on the night was blunt. She talked about showing she is one of the best strikers in the division, said she has weapons she has not shown yet, and then put the claim plainly: she is here to stay.
Fighters say that after every win. The difference is that hers now comes attached to a division record.
What to watch
Two things. Whether the UFC books her against Dern or asks for one more win, which is the usual price for a contender without a marquee name. And whether the elbow becomes a pattern, because a fighter with a signature finish is worth more to a promotion than a fighter with a streak.
Follow the division with real numbers
Denise Gomes’s full record, her finishes, Yan Xiaonan’s fight history and the updated strawweight rankings are all in the FightHub app. Download it to see how close she really is.
